The first of this week's big Galway-Kilkenny clashes resulted in a 3-22 to 1-17 victory for the Tribesmen at Tullamore this evening.

The prize for the winners is a provincial final date with Wexford in a fortnight's time. The biggest positive for Kilkenny tonight was that Michael Rice got 59 priceless competitive minutes under his belt as he made a long-awaited intercounty comeback after nigh on two years on the sideline.

With 466 in attendance, the men from the west led by 3-11 to 0-11 at the interval, with the goals coming from full forward Conor Whelan (19, 27) and corner man Shane Moloney (20).

Kinvara clubman Whelan finished the night with 2-2 in brackets after his name, while Tynagh-Abbey-Duniry's Moloney top-scored with 1-10. Brian Molloy and Eamon Brannigan struck seven points between them for the winners.

Thanks to points from Rice, Johnny Hayes and Rory Hickey, the Cats led by the odd point from five after six minutes. Hayes was on target again in the ninth minute to make it double scores. Ger Malone tagged on the fifth Kilkenny point but the Tribesmen weren't going away and the sides were level after 13 minutes.

Despite a point from Liam Blanchfield, the westerners kicked on to lead by 0-8 to 0-6 18 minutes in. Whelan's 19th-minute goal put some daylight between the sides for the first time; the Noresiders replied with a second Rice point; but Moloney added the second Galway three-pointer almost immediately to leave seven between them: 2-8 to 0-7, double scores!

Hayes, Hickey ('65') and Rice all pointed as the Black & Amber rallied but all the good work was undone when Whelan got in for Galway's third major three minutes from the break, 3-10 to 0-10. There was an exchange of points before the short whistle, with Blanchfield hitting his second for the losers.

All the Cats could do by the midway stage in the second half was pare the nine-point deficit to eight: three points from Hickey and one from Hayes made it 3-14 to 0-15. Niall Doherty added another Kilkenny point but Galway kept the scoreboard ticking over too and the three goals still separated the teams with 13 minutes to go.

The Tribesmen never looked troubled from here to the end and Ger Malone's 59th-minute goal for the Cats only served to put some respectability on the final scoreboard.

A good win for the Tribe, then, but can they repeat the dose on Sunday in the senior decider?!

Galway - J Skehill; C Flynn, D O'Donoghue, A Tuohy; P Flaherty, D Burke, S Cooney; K McHugo (0-1), D Higgins; E Burke (0-1), J Regan (0-1), E Brannigan (0-3); S Moloney (1-10, 0-3f, 0-1'65), C Whelan (2-2), B Molloy (0-4). Subs: B Keane for S Cooney, E Mahony for J Regan, P Hannon for E Burke, J Kennedy for E Brannigan, K Lane for D Higgins.

Kilkenny - K Nolan; E Moriarty, P Gahan, S Phelan; A Kearns, O McGrath, L Harney; J Hayes (0-4), K Blanchfield; L Blanchfield (0-2), M Rice (0-3), B Ryan; G Malone (1-1), R Hickey (0-5, 2f, 2'65), S Donnelly. Subs: C Doyle for S Phelan, N Doherty (0-1) for K Blanchfield, M Moloney (0-1) for B Ryan, M Malone for S Donnelly, B Cahill for M Rice.

Referee - T Carroll.

Tweet

Most Read Stories